


On the Origin of Librarians

by StarrySkies282



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Backstory, I’m terrible at tags, Librarians before they met each other, Other, also I’m not sure this has a plot, kind of angst I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 01:32:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14297832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarrySkies282/pseuds/StarrySkies282
Summary: This kind of has no plot but I wanted to do something for the backstory of everyone so enjoy x





	On the Origin of Librarians

**Author's Note:**

> This kind of has no plot but I wanted to do something for the backstory of everyone so enjoy x

He remembers the small town he grew up in, in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma. Where everyone knew him, Isaac Stone’s son. His childhood was riddled with his father’s drunkenness, and his mother’s attempts at keeping the family together and at least outwardly respectable. He was forced down and constantly told that this was it, that this was his whole life, working on the pipelines. Made to know that there was nothing else for him and he never would or could be anything else.

So he began to live another life, in secret, escaping from his world by learning about everywhere else. Teaching himself about art and ancient cultures and languages. Taking his degree online, so no one would know, gaining multiple PhDs. But hiding behind aliases. Dr Oliver Thompson was what the outside world knew him as. Because he never could tell them the truth.

And then, one evening, he was at the bar, and some ninjas came to Oklahoma, and with them, a tall blonde woman who took him away. Told him who he was. Who he _really_ was. Introduced him to the Library, with its artefacts and history and magic. He met people that for the first time, he felt he could trust. That came closest to understanding him as no one had done or tried to do before. People who gave him the courage to finally publish under his own name. And he thought that yes, maybe, he could get used to this.

* * *

She always knew she was supposed to be brilliant. They had always told her that. Made her feel safe, secure in her ‘perfect’ life. Always in boastful appreciation when talking about the latest science fair she had won or how they had already had letters from Harvard and MIT. So much so that sooner or later, she began to resent it: she wasn’t just there to be paraded about. She was more than just a brain. If only she had seen through the façade sooner: she would have known it wasn’t meant to last.

She found herself alone, left to get by, bills piling up that were virtually unpayable on her pitiful janitor’s salary. Her days went by, melting in to one another; from her tiny, run-down, ramshackle apartment to the hospital she worked at. As janitor, not doctor as her parents had envisioned her as. There was a sort of irony in that. Then there were the visits to second hand shops, and, more than once, the pawnbrokers. And in all that time, her parents had never tried to contact her. She was alone, and this was her life.

Until she met them.

The day Cassandra met Flynn and Eve was a day she was a day she was likely to remember forever. They whisked her away from her life of almost-drudgery and mundanity and opened her eyes to the magic around her. They showed her the true potential for her gift, giving her hope once again. This limitless new world she was now a part of. And the best thing of all? With Eve and Flynn and Jenkins and Jacob and Ezekiel around her, she felt as though she’d found where she belonged.

* * *

He never had a conventional childhood. But he was raised for this life. Trained from the moment he was adopted to steal—the art of thievery. He learnt, therefore, to never stick around longer than was necessary. His own motto: if I’m bored, I’m gone. However, somewhere along the line, perhaps after that encounter in Geneva, at that museum, things began to change.

He was just trying to steal that knife (admittedly it was a bad plan) and get the hell out of there. He never meant to stay. He only went with the man because he offered an escape route, which, at that point, Ezekiel Jones didn’t have.

He didn’t trust easily—being a thief had taught him that. Maybe that was why, all those years ago, he began to distance himself from his foster family. But for some unexplained reason, he felt compelled to trust this man with his mismatched suit and odd manner of speaking who stood before him. This man who claimed to be a Librarian. No, _the_ Librarian. And so, he followed him back to the Library. There he met a blonde ninja-type who seemed to have it in for him, a rugged-looking guy who wouldn’t have looked out of place in an old Western but seemed to be a walking talking museum, and a pair of blue eyes and a smile he had trouble getting out of his head. So he decided that perhaps, he could stay a while.

* * *

Before that day, her whole life had been military. Straight out of the academy and into the NATO counterterrorism unit. She was hardly ever home, and when she was, it was merely to wait fir he next call. Sure, she had friends and family, but she felt, more often than not, that they were in the way; she preferred to keep herself to herself, and anyway, her job was her life.

Until that day she was sent to Berlin and met a man who claimed to be ‘the Librarian,’ who knew about curses and demons and how to disarm a nuclear bomb. Then she found herself offered a job at the Metropolitan Public Library—not to stack shelves or stamp books but to work as a _Guardian_. For the very same man she had met in Berlin.

And then there were the new recruits she was put in charge of—to train them to fight the dangers of this new world she never knew existed. She began to draw parallels between her role as Guardian and her job as part of the NATO counterterrorism unit. But she realised one had significantly more to offer. So perhaps, she thought, this was what she had been waiting for.

* * *

All those years he had spent alone, never really, truly appreciating what life had to offer. He had stayed wrapped up in his books, hidden away in the Library, venturing out only to retrieve a new artefact. Having only Judson and Charlene for company. And Cal, of course. But that was the way he liked it. Ideas, principles and stories were far easier to understand than people—he could have all the information, and all he needed was to piece it together. He was the Librarian. He worked alone.

But one day, that all changed. When Charlene bought her into the Library. Told him that she—this person would be his new Guardian. And he did not know what to do. He liked working alone—it was quiet, and he had a system; even if Charlene didn’t believe him. But it seemed like Eve Baird was here to stay.

And suddenly, there were three others: Librarians. He wasn’t alone anymore, but he also wasn’t completely sure how to handle this. So it took time. But eventually, he began to understand what Judson had meant about living a full life.

* * *

Custodian. He hadn’t always had the role, no. But for the last few hundred years or so, that was what he had been doing. Keeping things in order in the Annex. Cataloguing, archiving, checking in with Judson and Charlene occasionally, sometimes offering assistance to Librarians. But mostly he kept to himself. And that was how he liked it. He could work in peace without mess or interruption. Except, he wasn’t exactly a Librarian or a Guardian—he was slightly on the outside, looking in. Allowed to be a part of this because of his allegiance. But he was used to that by now. That feeling of never quite belonging.

Until the day Charlene had flung the library into the void and four Librarians and a Guardian ended up taking permanent residence in his Annex. He was entirely opposed to it at first. They were in the way, interrupting his work. He needed them gone.

But then somehow, after a while, he found he didn’t mind the company so much. In fact, he rather liked the chatter and their arguments and helping them and working with Colonel Baird, and hearing ‘Jenkins, quick question.’ He couldn’t deny it—having Mr. Stone around was incredibly helpful, and Miss. Cillian, well, she was nothing short of amazing and Mr. Jones—he wasn’t _so_ bad after all, once you got to know him. And he realised now, after all those years of living, what it truly meant to be alive.


End file.
